The Transportation Security Administration is suspending installation of the only airport checkpoint device that automatically screens passengers for hidden explosives due to problems with the system’s reliability, The New York Times reported in Sunday editions.“We are seeing some issues that we did not anticipate” with the devices known as “puffers,” the Times quoted Randy Null, the agency’s chief technology officer as saying.Introduction of the so-called trace-detection portals, nicknamed puffers because they blow air while searching for residue from explosives, was far behind schedule even before the TSA moved to reassess whether they should be modified or upgraded or whether to wait until better versions are available, the Times said.... http://www.msnbc.msn.com

Most of the talk about immigration is about controlling the flow from Mexico into the United States. Well, there's another human smuggling route — hundreds of miles from the U.S. mainland — that you rarely hear about: Puerto Rico. Because Puerto Rico is a U.S. commonwealth, the inviting crystal-clear waters off its coasts are just as much a porous border as the one between Texas and Mexico. On the look-out for illegal migrants, is the air-marine unit of the Customs and Border Protection Agency. CBS Evening News Saturday anchor Thalia Assuras joined them for an exclusive first-hand look at their patrol operation. ...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/02/eveningnews/main1962919.shtml?source=RSS&attr=U.S._1962919

President Bush yesterday denied that Iraq was plunging into civil war, just a day after the Pentagon painted a bloody picture of a nation caught in a spiral of increasing violence.His statement appears to widen the gap between the political message coming from a White House concerned about upcoming mid-term elections and a military establishment fearful of getting caught in another Vietnam.In his weekly radio address to the nation, Bush lashed out at critics of the war and portrayed the conflict in Iraq as an integral part of the war on terror. He said the country was not sliding into civil war.'Our commanders and diplomats on the ground believe that Iraq has not descended into a civil war. They report that only a small number of Iraqis are engaged in sectarian violence,' he said....http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1863851,00.html

The most influential moderate Shia leader in Iraq has abandoned attempts to restrain his followers, admitting that there is nothing he can do to prevent the country sliding towards civil war. Aides say Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is angry and disappointed that Shias are ignoring his calls for calm and are switching their allegiance in their thousands to more militant groups which promise protection from Sunni violence and revenge for attacks. "I will not be a political leader any more," he told aides. "I am only happy to receive questions about religious matters."It is a devastating blow to the remaining hopes for a peaceful solution in Iraq and spells trouble for British forces, who are based in and around the Shia stronghold of Basra....http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=3HYQXH0E3XYXVQFIQMGSFGGAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2006/09/03/wirq03.xml

A new, deadly strain of tuberculosis has killed 52 of 53 people infected in the last year in South Africa, the World Health Organization said Friday, calling for improved measures to treat and diagnose the virus. The strain was discovered in the Kwazulu-Natal region of South Africa, and is classified as extremely drug-resistant. Drugs from three of the six second-line medicines, used as a last line of defense against TB, proved ineffective against the new strain."We are extremely worried about the issue of extreme drug resistance," said Paul Nunn, coordinator of the WHO's drug resistance department. "If countries don't have the diagnostic capacity to find these patients, they will die without proper treatment."Though even the most drug-resistant strains of TB have proven to be treatable with three classes of drugs, those drugs are more expensive and are toxic to the human body....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,211901,00.html

Mexico's President Vicente Fox was forced to forgo his final state-of-the-nation address Friday after leftist lawmakers stormed the stage of Congress to protest disputed July 2 elections.Instead, he gave his speech on television, and called on Mexico to mend deep divisions that he said threaten the nation's newfound democracy.It was the first time in modern Mexican history a president hasn't given the annual address to Congress. Fox arrived at the door of the Legislative Palace, handed in a written copy -- as the constitution requires -- and announced over the loudspeaker that he wouldn't appear before lawmakers. He did not enter the chambers, and Congress was adjourned.Appearing on television later as thousands of protesters occupied Mexico City's center, Fox said the nation "requires harmony, not anarchy."...http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/09/01/mexico.protest.ap/index.html?section=cnn_world